Pete Best, the Beatles' original drummer, still doesn't know why he was fired

Mark Frauenfelder 9:36 am Wed Aug 26, 2015

eraser

In 1960 a Liverpool band called the Silver Beatles asked Pete Best to join them as drummer. Best was already in a band called the Blackjacks, but he took the gig and for the next two years he played with the band (which eventually dropped "Silver" from its name). When the band auditioned with Decca, Best played drums on the first recording of "Love Me Do." Things went downhill quickly from there, writes Maggie Malach of Mental Floss:

But in August 1962, the morning after another well-received gig at the famous Cavern Club, manager Brian Epstein called Pete into his office and gave him the bad news.

"I walked into Brian's office … and he was quite agitated, fidgety," Best explained in the 2006 documentary Pete Best of the Beatles: The Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Story Never Told. "'Pete,' he said. 'I really don't know how to tell you this, but I will.' And he said, 'In short, the boys want you out and it's already been arranged that Ringo [Starr] will join the band on Saturday.' And that was the bombshell. I couldn't believe what was happening. Am I in a dream? Am I in a nightmare? I want to wake up, someone pinch me." Best, who was just 20 years old at the time, went home and cried.

He never spoke to any of the other Beatles again. People have asked Best why he doesn't call Paul or Ringo now and get an explanation as to why he was unceremoniously sacked. In 2009 he told Spinner: "Well, have you ever tried to phone a Beatle? It just doesn't happen. You couldn't get to them."

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